


Rise

by ohmyreylo



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Major Character Death (But Not Really), TROS spec, this is painful im sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-18
Updated: 2019-12-18
Packaged: 2021-02-26 12:41:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21849829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohmyreylo/pseuds/ohmyreylo
Summary: "They had just killed the darksider possessed by Palpatine. They won, or so they thought."The Rise of Skywalker speculation. Angst, force ghosts and as happy an ending as I could manage.I HAVE NOT SEEN TROS, NOR ANY SPOILERS. This is a short speculative scene that I wrote in *January* and never got around to posting.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 5
Kudos: 31





	Rise

**Author's Note:**

> I will repeat, I have NOT seen TROS yet. This contains no spoilers for tros and if it does it is purely coincidental. This is a short spec piece I wrote nearly a YEAR ago that I never posted.
> 
> That being said, please enjoy some angst!

They had just killed the darksider possessed by Palpatine. They won, or so they thought.

Panting, Rey extinguishes her saber, putting it back on her belt, and stares for a moment at the corpse of their fallen foe.  _ This. This is the reward of the dark.  _ Beside her, her battle partner has gone still, facing toward the lifeless form a few meters in front of them. 

“Ben?”

He gives no indication that he’s heard her.

She tries again, more forcefully, “Ben?”

Suddenly he drops to his knees, hands digging into the ground as he struggles to breathe. Immediately falling to her knees beside him, Rey puts a hand on his shoulder and-

A force push hurdles her backwards until she hits a tree. She hasn’t had time to process what just happened before she is being lifted off her feet as her hands fly to her neck, wrapping around the phantom hands of-

Ben is on his feet now, left hand outstretched toward her, holding her in a vicious force choke. His eyes, Rey can see, are not the ones she knows. These are flashing a vile shade of yellow. Just like the eyes of the man they just killed. This isn’t Ben. Not  _ her  _ Ben.

He blinks and his eyes revert to the deep brown she recognizes at the same time that his arm drops, releasing her. 

Tears blur her vision as Rey slumps against the rough bark of the tree, gasping for air.

  
  
  


Ben is on his knees again, taking shallow, frantic breaths. The Emperor's spirit can only latch onto the dark, and, try as he did, Ben couldn’t rid himself of it all. He squeezes his eyes shut, focusing on the light side of the Force, letting it expose the dark corners where the spirit is trying to taking hold, praying to the Force and anything else listening to hold this thing off just long enough to do what he knows must be done. 

“R-Rey,” he manages to choke out, opening his eyes to find hers, as he scrambles to her side.

She raises her gaze to meet his as she tries not to flinch when the same hand that tried to kill her only moments ago reaches out to tenderly cup her cheek. His thumb gently wipes the tears from her face as they begin to fall from his own eyes as well. His eyes move down her face and to her neck, where one of her hands still lingers. Moving of its own accord, his thumb ghosts over the column of her throat, not daring to touch and risk hurting her more than he already has.  _ Force, the things he has done to this girl.  _

Meeting her eyes again, willing the waiver in his voice to still, he tells her, “You know what you have to do.” In his head, an echo:  _ I know what I have to do _ . His heart clenches at the memory of how he felt after killing someone he loved and how he has just doomed Rey to the same fate.  _ No.  _ He quickly corrects himself. They share a bond, yes, but love is a strong word. Something he’d given up any hope of being reciprocated long ago. He thought that she cared about him at least, and that was enough. More than enough.

“No,” violently shaking her head she mutters again and again, “No, no, no. You-you can resist it. Ben, you can-”

He jerks away from her, stumbling backwards and as far away from her as he can get when he feels the sharp claws prying once more into his mind. He presses his palms against his temples as he screams in agony, feeling as if his entire being is splitting in two. The dark and the light inside him battling for dominance. His soul, the final battleground. 

  
  
  


Rey can’t do anything but watch, horrified, as he thrashes on the forest floor.

“BEN!,” she screams. At the sound of his name he looks up and she finds herself panicking, unsure of what to say next.  _ You’re stronger than you know. I believe in you. I need you. I love-  _ “Come back to me,” she pleads. 

His face softens for only a moment before contorting again in immense pain as he screams. His left arm begins to move against his will, and his other arm is quick to stop it, holding it tight against his body, refusing to harm Rey again. He’s slipping, struggling to control himself. This has to end now.

“KILL ME!” his voice breaks with the effort and desperation. Chest heaving, body shaking, he meets her eyes for the last time. “Rey,” he whispers, like a prayer. Maybe it is. “Please.”

“I-” she starts, between sobs.

“It has to be you.” He’s crying now too. “I  _ want  _ it to be you.” 

He stands and stumbles back to her until he’s kneeling in front of her again. His left arm having come back under his control, he reaches for her hands. Holding each of them in his own, his eyes roam over her face as if memorizing every detail, pausing to linger on her lips. He hasn’t had time to think about what he’s doing until his lips are already on hers. The kiss is urgent, but soft, and he pours into it everything that he doesn’t have the strength to tell her aloud. He pulls away and she chases him, not wanting it to end. Not wanting what comes after.

Too soon, they seperate. 

Ben’s hand reaches to Rey’s side where her saber hangs from her belt. With a shaking hand, he detaches it and pushes the cool metal into her palm. He meets her eyes with an unspoken plea. 

With his hands encasing hers, he ignites her saber, sending it through his chest. 

Rey’s scream is guttural and anguished and filled with so much pain that he almost regrets what he’s done, though he knows it is the only way. 

She extinguishes the saber and throws it out of sight. Her hand moves to cradle his face as his body falls until he is resting on the ground, Rey filling his entire view.

“ _ Thank you _ ”. He whispers, barely audible, against her palm.

She can feel his life quickly slipping away through the force. She panics, blindly grasping at any part of him she can reach; his face, his shoulders, his chest, as her head falls to rest against his neck as she cries.

“Don’t leave me.” She sobs. “ _ Please. Don’t go. _ ” 

With all of his remaining strength, he takes her face in his hands, pushing her away until he can look into her eyes one last time. 

“You are  _ never  _ alone.” His voice is weak and filled with pain but he needs her to hear it.

“ _ Rey.”  _ He murmurs her name quietly but full of emotion as his eyes drift shut and she feels his presence in the Force fade to nothingness.

The next few moments happen in a blur. She remembers the shock, the grief, the numbness and the screams that she barely realizes are coming from herself. There is a hand on her shoulder that she notices, belatedly, but cannot bring herself to look away from his body. She doesn’t need to, anyway. She would know that Force signature anywhere, even as a ghost. 

“Bring him back.” She finds she can barely speak but demands of Luke Skywalker all the same, “You have to bring him back.”

“The Force does not take well to demands.” Master Luke tells her. “But, it is possible it could be persuaded. I do not believe it is the will of the Force for my nephew’s story to end today.”

Rey stands, shakily, and addresses the Force ghost. “Tell me what to do. Please.”

“Focus.” He says, his own eyes falling shut and arms outstretched. “Feel the Force around you, inside you. Feel  _ him.  _ Let it flow through you, and into him.”

She does as she’s told, pouring into her effort everything that she has. But it isn’t enough. Just when she thinks she cannot go on, when her body starts to fail her, she feels the Force surge all around her.  _ You are never alone.  _

More Force ghosts join her and Luke. Even those whose names she doesn’t know, she suddenly  _ does. _ As if the Force is whispering them in her ear.  _ Master Yoda. Obi-Wan Kenobi. Anakin Skywalker. _

The Force is surrounding them and moving through her in a way that she never could have imagined possible. 

Rey doesn’t see so much as  _ feel _ what happens next.

Warmth _. _

Peace _. _

Balance _. _

_ Life. _

And then, 

Ben Solo rises.

**Author's Note:**

> Wow, that was painful to write. I hope you enjoyed! This was posted quickly to get it out there before I watch TROS and largely un-edited so if you find any typos, feel free to let me know and I will correct them.
> 
> Please consider checking out my other works!
> 
> such a funny thing- modern AU with a forcebond twist! (wip)  
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/17737394/chapters/41848259
> 
> hocus pocus roses- funny short modern AU one-shot  
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/19444279
> 
> never not (thinking about you)- ex high school sweetheart one-shot with angst & smut  
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/21335659
> 
> Follow me on twitter: @riseofreylo :)
> 
> also- NO TROS SPOILERS IN THE COMMENTS. May the Force be with you.


End file.
